


Once upon a dream.

by IoccasionallyWriteStories



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: M/M, Soulmate/reincarnation au kinda, Vague soulmate au I guess?, no beta we die like men, they share dreams set in old new york
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 13:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17787959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IoccasionallyWriteStories/pseuds/IoccasionallyWriteStories
Summary: Logically speaking, one can not taste an ‘almost kiss’, but Jack Kelly is a bit of a professional when it comes to denying logical thought process. And yet, every night since his seventeenth birthday, Jack’s nights are filled with the taste of almost kisses and flighty smiles.





	Once upon a dream.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a tunglr request: pining Javid with an almost kiss.

Logically speaking, one can not taste an 'almost kiss', but Jack Kelly is a bit of a professional when it comes to denying logical thought process. And yet, every night since his seventeenth birthday, Jack's nights are filled with the taste of almost kisses and flighty smiles.

The setting of his dreams is New York, somewhere at the turn of the twentieth century, or at least that's what the newspapers that seem to be oh so important in his dreams tell him. As he strolls through the old version of the city he knows better in the present (he can't say that the old New York is a stranger to him, because his feet take him where he wants to go even though his head doesn't know where he's going), he often encounters the shadows of people he still knows and some he knew and might meet again, if faith allows it.

During these dreams, there's always one constant presence at his side. A boy with an unmistakable tread and a light smile that seems to flip Jack's entire world on its head. If sounds could penetrate the walls of their respective realities, Jack would've asked him for his name. But alas, there are limits to the extent of their dreams, borders that they aren't allowed to cross.

At the very beginning, their silence was uncomfortable. It hung over them like a restrictive cloud as they explore a world once known to them. Slowly, the suffocating silence turns into a comfortable one. When Jack laces their fingers together as they watch the sun set in ancient New York, it feels nothing but natural that the other boy lays his head on his shoulder. His breath tickling Jack's neck feels oh so very real, but then his alarm clock brutally yanks him away from the cosy staircase. 

There's something playful about the other boy today. Jack stumbles upon him talking with a vague dream version of Race. Race's dialogue is clear as day and stupid as fuck, as per usual, but whatever the brown haired boy is saying, is infuriatingly silent to Jack.

The smile that the brunette throws him however, is enough to melt the anger away and dream-Race disappears. Still smiling blithely, the other boy darts away. His laughter may be nothing but silence yo Jack's ears, but the happiness that lights up his eyes is unmistakable and Jack chases after him, laughing merrily along. 

For a while, Jack does nothing but run and the advantage of dreaming is that he never runs out of breath. Dreaming is probably also the only reason that Jack hasn't caught up to the other boy yet. He has never been an athlete and the realisation that somewhere in the back of his mind, Jack knows this boy, almost makes him halt. He doesn't though, afraid that the other boy will slip between his fingers once more.

Suddenly they come to a stop and Jack, unable to quit running on time, clashes with the other boy. Giggling, they land unto the floor, limbs tangled and hair messed up.

Gently, the other teen lets his defy fingers trail though Jack's dark curls. He lets his hand slide from Jack's hair to his cheek and Jack nuzzles into it, sighing contently. It's nice like this, with a gentle sun warming their bodies the same way that pure affection warms their hearts. 

Being so close to the other one, Jack can't help but let his eyes trail down to the boy's lips. Wondering what they taste like, he moves a little bit closer and those perfect looking lips fall open in a small o-shape. The hand cupping his cheek gets settled on the back of Jack's neck and tugs him closer oh so gently. 

Before their lips get the chance of meeting, the other boy disappears into thin air. Apparently, he got woken up rather brusquely. Jack wonders what his life is like outside the dream and yearns to meet him.

Sometimes, certain places trigger memories from long ago. One day while Jack is hanging around the circulation gate, joking with apparitions of his friends, the other boy appears. He's talking to someone smaller than him and takes another street, away from the circulation gate. It's at that moment that Jack realises that this is where he met the other boy and his little brother.

The memories of the strike follow soon after and even though Jack knows everything that happened between him and the other boy, he still cannot find his name. He isn't sure whether the other boy remembers anything at all, but the way he smiles at Jack, leans into him and sometimes slips his hand into Jack's, make him think he does. If only they were allowed to communicate. 

Today, the other boy is looking rather peculiar. His eyebrows are pinched closely together and his hunched back tells Jack that he's worried about something. With a soft gesture, Jack smoothes out the wrinkles on the other boy's forehead, earning him a little laugh. 

The other teen takes Jack's hand into his and contrary to all the other times, he leads the way. After rounding several corners and trailing through different parts of the city, they find themselves in front of an old looking apartment building. Steeling himself, the boy takes a deep breath and travels to the back of the complex. Once there, he finds a staircase, where he stops hesitantly.

A small push from Jack is enough encouragement for him and the both of them travel upwards, until the boy stops at a certain window. When Jack peers inside, his heart makes a little jump. This is the other boy's home. A little warm place that he shared with Jack in a time long gone. A place where they cuddled during cold nights, when his mother wouldn't allow Jack to go back to the lodging house.

With shaking fingers, the boy opens the window and the both of them crawl inside. Seemingly overwhelmed by an emotion Jack can't quite place, the brunette lets his fingers trail over the shabby desk in the room, the old wardrobe, everything that seems to have even the tiniest bit of importance to him. 

Suddenly, he bolts out of the door and Jack follows him quickly. They end up standing in a kitchen, where a man his reading the paper with a younger child sitting at his feet. Two women are chatting with each other and the atmosphere is as friendly as Jack remembers it. When he looks back at the other boy, he notices the tears running down his face. He's immediately alarmed, until he sees the fond smile accompanying the tears. Drawing the other close, he lets the boy rest his head on his shoulder. Then he wakes up again.

Once again, their joined dream is a fuzzy haze of happiness as they lay on their backs, looking at New York bathing in the sunset. When Jack looks over at the other boy, he sees the colours of the sunset reflected in those gorgeous eyes. He could draw those for the rest of his life and be completely happy. 

Jack is still staring at him when the other boy turns towards him. There's a soft blush dusted across his face and Jack reaches out for him, draws him into his chest and tangles their legs together. Laying close like that, it's nice. "I like you a lot", the boy signs and Jack gasps, staring at his fingers.

"You know asl?" His excitement makes his hands shake, but the joy on the other boy's face tells him that the message is loud and clear.

At that moment, the dream starts falling apart. Buildings crumble, people disappear and Jack immediately knows they crossed a line they shouldn't have crossed. It's a goodbye neither of them are ready for. As the other boy fades into dust, he finger spells one last thing to Jack: D-a-v-i-d. After that, their world shatters to pieces.

Jack tries to keep the dreams in his life by painting them over and over. What sucks the most, is that everything came rushing back after he learned David's name. David, David Jacobs, his Davey. Although he manages to capture the visual aspect of turn of the century New York perfectly, there's always something amiss with the emotional aspect. 

From upstairs, Jack can hear his mother talking to someone in the doorway, but he's not in the mood to listen in. As she calls him down to greet their new neighbour, who was: "So friendly to bring them cookies !" he sighs. When he reaches the bottom of the staircase and introduces himself somewhat politely by saying: "Howdy, I'm Jack Kelly", he doesn't get a greeting in return.

Instead, the plate tumbles to the ground and the gorgeous boy in front of him whispers a soft and quiet: "Jackie..." 

"Davey...", Jack breathes, barely believing his own eyes. But the boy is standing right in front of him, brown eyes blown wide and Jack closes the gap between them. He hugs the other boy as tightly as he can and he feels David hugging him back, while burying his face in Jack's neck. "It's nice to see you again", Jack chokes out. 

"It's nice to meet you once more", David breathes back. It's their first meeting after a long time and Jack can't wait to rediscover him all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading/kudos/comments/ whatever you feel like doing! Hit me up on tumblr if you want (rivertellsstories)


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